The Russian government has agreed to allow imports of genetically modified (GM) soyabeans on condition that resulting feed products are exported, APK-Inform wrote, citing a report by Russian news agency Interfax.
Signed on 12 June and published on the official legal information portal, the resolution took effect immediately and would remain in force for one year, the 17 June report said.
According to accompanying documents, the move “will allow Russian enterprises to import and process soyabeans containing genetically engineered organisms registered for food purposes on the territory of the Russian Federation, while maintaining the ban on the use of finished feed for domestic consumption”.
Processing would be allowed exclusively for export shipments and would contribute to increasing export volumes.
The Ministry of Agriculture, which prepared the draft resolution, said “the inability to import [GM] soyabeans negatively affects the utilisation of oilseed processing capacities and the export volumes of processed products”.
The move was expected to more fully utilise processing capacities, such as in the Kaliningrad region, where facilities capable of handling over 2M tonnes/year of soyabeans were operating at less than 5% capacity due to limited domestic production, according to an UkAgroConsult report.
Russia has registered six GM-soyabean lines (A5547-127, FG72, A2704-12, MON87708, DAS-44406-6, DAS-81419-2) for food purposes, which can be used for feed production, the report said.
However, under the country’s food security doctrine, the cultivation, planting and circulation of GMs remain banned in Russia and imported soyabeans are intended solely for processing and subsequent export of finished products, according to the 17 June report.
A previous ban on GM-soyabean imports had negatively affected export volumes, UkAgroConsult wrote.
Despite increasing domestic production, Russia requires over 1M tonnes/year of imported soyabeans, according to oilseed market experts quoted by UkAgroConsult.
The new decree was expected to revitalise the processing sector, particularly in regions with large industrial capacities, and strengthen Russia’s position in the global feed market, where demand continued to rise, the report said.
Meanwhile, the decision has sparked debate among farmers and environmentalists concerned about potential risks to the domestic market if export controls are not strictly enforced, according to the report.
The government has insisted that GM soybean processing would be conducted under strict oversight to prevent any domestic use, UkAgroConsult wrote.
The next year will be crucial in assessing the policy’s impact on the Russian agricultural sector, according to the report.
